little bird // r.keene

x. the search party.

"Wren!" A voice broke out, "Wren!" Wren snapped her head up and caught a glimpse of a head poked out a car window as it drove past her. Wren stopped in her footsteps and watched as the car pulled onto the sidewalk a little bit behind her. Cars passing by beeped their horns, but still, the driver didn't care and they pulled over.

Wren should have guessed who was going to get out of that car.

"Wren!" Daniel shouted, getting out of the drivers seat door, Wren clenched her jaw at the sight of him and slung her hands in her pockets. But what surprised her even more was when Johnny got out of the passenger door.

As the pair of men approached, Wren noticed johnny's battered face, beaten and bruised as if he's been in a fight. Actually, not as if, he definitely had been in a fight. His bottom lip was cracked, paired with a cut on his cheek and a black eye. Part of Wren wondered what the other guy looked like but then again- she couldn't imagine what Johnny had been feeling these past few weeks.

He didn't know where Robby was.
And Wren did.

Her stomach felt like it was tying itself in knots over and over, she straightened her back slightly, trying to hide her nerves and guilt. She had to act normal. She had to.

"Hey, kid." Johnny said gently, once the pair reached the girl. Wren's expression was flat and gave nothing away, after all, she had no clue what to expect from this duo. From what she had seen they had always hated each other- every single interaction had ended in venomous words from both ends.

But then again, Wren suddenly realised the only thing they had in common was Robby. A son and a student. Now that he was officially 'missing' and a fugitive, Wren couldn't imagine a more perfect team to search for him. Two people that love him and care about him. 

"Johnny." She nodded in acknowledgment and truth be told, Wren felt rather glad to see Johnny, she had always trusted him in a way, a sort of unexplainable balance of faith and confidence, one that had almost been toppled when no one told her about the performance at Valley Fest. But Wren had long since let that go, knowing Johnny meant no harm.

"You, err, got a little something on your face there..." She pretended to scratch her cheek with a slight smile, Johnny couldn't help but let out a breathy chuckle.

"No, shit kid." He answered gently, she smiled at her feet- at least some things never changed.

"The other guy looks worse?"
"You know it."

The pair smiled at each other before Wren let her eyes inevitably drag to the man besides Johnny.

Daniel, on the other hand, in the past had meant harm and not just to Wren either:

"Mr LaRusso, it was my fault. I brought her here, Wren had nothing to do with it. She let us stay here." Robby confessed, standing forward to take the heat.

"Wait, don't even start." Daniel shook his hand in Robby's direction, "I gave you a second chance. This whole thing was a mistake. You know, if you wanna end up like your father, that's up to you." Mr LaRusso snapped and Wren felt her skin crawl.

Daniel felt her staring at him and he knew she had every right to hate him. He had never given her any reason to particularly like him directly, he had never really done anything for her.

"Look, I know you don't like me right now-" He began after a short pause of silence between the three, as if trying to find a place to start but Wren just shrugged.

"Well, I've actually never liked you, Daniel, don't flatter yourself." She sucked in a breath between her teeth, "So, you two are suddenly friends again? Let me guess, trying to find Robby?" It was a low blow, she knew it, but Wren had spent too long and tried too hard at being delicate only for it to get you nowhere.

"Cut the crap, Evans, we know you know where he is." Johnny said suddenly and Wren's eyes slid to him and she felt the growing knot in her stomach get bigger.

"What makes you say that? If I knew where he was, wouldn't you think, oh, I don't know, be with him?" She asked sharply and Wren watched Johnny let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head slightly as if he found this amusing.

"Wren... We know you know..." Johnny said flatly, looking over to Daniel, he gestured to him, "You know we both care about him, we would never turn him in, we just want to know he's okay." Johnny told her and Wren clenched her teeth together.

Once upon a time, she would have done anything for Johnny and Robby to repair their relationship and even now Wren was confident they would one day.

One day.

But since then she had learned that in order for things to be fixed, both sides needed to be willing. And Wren would now never push Robby is he wasn't ready. She would never make him face anything unless he was ready. She needed to talk to him. She couldn't tell Johnny or Daniel. She couldn't.

"He's safe." Was all she gave them, the two men looked at her, studied her for a brief moment. Her unblinking eyes, clenched jaw, tensed shoulders told them everything. She was serious. She wasn't just telling them what they wanted to hear. She was telling the truth. She knows where he is. "He's okay."

And without another word, Wren turned around and began to walk away. The coffee she went out to get was the furthest thing from the front of her mind. But she didn't walk in the direction of the Bookshelf either, she couldn't give them any hints as to where he was. Not after she had just confessed she knew.

"Wait." Daniel caught up with her in a slight jog, he grabbed her arm and Wren intenctually grabbed his hand, twisting his wrist until he winced. Daniel could have no doubt struck back, but he was caught off guard and yanked his hand away, "Right, I forgot you were the champion...." He uttered to himself.

"You got what you wanted to know, he's okay. Now leave me alone."

"Just tell him his mom wants to see him, will you?" Daniel asked, rubbing his wrist, Johnny was beside them now. "He knows where to find her. She wants to see him and I think he needs to see her too. Just tell him that, please." Daniel pleaded and Wren licked her lips before replying.

"He won't do anything he doesn't want to, he has to want to on his own."

"We know."

And with that, they watched her go.

"You think she's telling the truth? That she knows where he is, or did she just tell us he's safe because she wants to be left alone?" Johnny asked, folding his arms as Wren turned a corner further down the street, no longer in their line of sight.

"I think she's telling the truth. I've learned the hard way that she's not a liar and anyway, she cares about him- I've seen the way they look at each other." Daniel said that last sentence almost under his breath, his mind casting back to when he walked in on the pair at the beach club when they were alone on the balcony.

"What way do they look at each other?"

"Like we used to look at Ally."